The 2025 Cadillac Escalade is a rolling amphitheater with a 55-inch screen and 40 speakers

There’s no doubt that driving a Cadillac Escalade is a lavish experience, even 25 years after America’s most famous luxury SUV was introduced. Amid Cadillac’s electric push, the Escalade has been overshadowed by models like the Lyriq and Celestiq. But GM is fixing that with the 2025 Cadillac Escalade, which brings major tech upgrades under a modest exterior update.

While the changes for 2025 don’t reach the level of an all-new generation, this latest refresh brings the Cadillac’s interior into the middle of this decade, borrowing the design of the upcoming Escalade IQ. The exterior, too, with new lighting elements that seem to take inspiration from Cadillac’s Le Mans machines.

Cadillac says the new LED headlights and vertical daytime running lights are actually inspired by the Lyriq and Celestiq, but there’s clearly a connection between the refreshed Escalade and its new electric sibling, the Escalade IQ. The signature taillights are even more dramatic now, with a second vertical element. The Cadillac badge on the front of the SUV is now illuminated on all models, but higher trims and the high-performance V-Series get a backlit grille surround above the illuminated badge.

For 2025, the Escalade’s mechanical specs are largely the same: it still rides on the same 6.2-liter V-8 as the outgoing model year, with output remaining steady at 420 horsepower and 460 lb-ft of torque. Likewise, the 2025 Escalade V still sports the same 682-horsepower 6.2-liter supercharged V-8. Both V-8s are mated to a 10-speed automatic transmission.

The eight-passenger SUV features standard independent suspension front and rear, while higher-trim models get an adaptive air suspension and the latest version of Cadillac’s Magnetic Ride Control. Wheels start at 22 inches, standard, but there are optional 24-inch wheels that test the limits of what buyers can get on the sides of their Caddy.

These are the largest wheels ever fitted to the Escalade from the factory, and the first time 24-inch wheels have been available on the SUV. Another first comes in the form of optional power doors that open and close automatically, with the push of a button on the door handle. The power driver’s door, meanwhile, opens when the driver approaches while carrying their electronic key.

It’s inside that the Escalade’s latest updates are most evident, starting with a new steering wheel design and a column-mounted shifter. Of course, the headline feature of this refresh is its new, state-of-the-art cabin, featuring a massive 55-inch curved screen that stretches from pillar to pillar.

The driver’s side measures 35 inches and displays all the important information above the steering wheel, then overlaps to the center of the dashboard; the passenger side measures 20 inches. Below that monolithic main screen is a smaller screen in the middle that Cadillac calls the Front Command Center. This one is angled upward and controls the Escalade’s dual-zone heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system, among other things, like the fancy new power doors.

The Escalade’s cabin still gets a 19-speaker AKG audio system in the base configuration, but you can opt for upgraded packages that give you either 36 speakers or a brand-new audio system. 40 transducers, some of which are in the headrests.

The new Escalade comes with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, despite GM’s reluctance to include them of late. This is Cadillac’s most recognizable model, after all, and the absence of something as ubiquitous as CarPlay on a luxury model would raise a few eyebrows. Rounding out all the new tech in this long-awaited update is a three-year subscription to GM’s Super Cruise, which comes standard on all 2025 Escalades.

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